


The Real Human Torch

by Badassium1970



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fear, Fluff, slight PTSD, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 02:25:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14802602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Badassium1970/pseuds/Badassium1970
Summary: You're afraid of the dark due to being tortured by HYDRA in total darkness. A blackout causes you to get close with Tony.





	The Real Human Torch

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this doesn't really fit in with the canon timeline. It's sort of after Winter Soldier, before Age Of Ultron, and instead of Iron Man 3 and Civil War happening they didn't and Bucky is safe.

“I really don’t see what the big deal is,” Tony stated, trying to wave me off. I swear if I rolled my eyes any harder they’d be stuck like that. Part of me thought it may be worth it just to freak Tony out.

“Of course you don’t! You weren’t the one who was almost trapped!” I exclaim, trying my best not to shudder at the thought of being stuck in that cave.

“Look, I calculated everything. I knew I’d be able to destroy that boulder. Even if I didn’t Capsicle was with you, he’d have that thing gone in no time.” Again Tony tried to wave me away but I wasn’t having it. Maybe I was over-reacting slightly. It wasn’t like I would have died due to Tony’s decision to go after that Doombot but it was still dangerous.

“Sorry if after all the times you’ve almost gotten yourself killed I don’t trust your calculations,” I huff, not willing to let this go.

“Keyword, almost,” Tony replied, not looking up at me and instead focusing on playing with a piece of scrap metal, wondering what to make it into. I had some ideas, none nice, but before I could suggest anything the lights went out and the room was filled with the sounds of electrical devices shutting down abruptly.

I froze. There was no way that this was happening, not here, in a room with no natural light or a way to get out.

“What’s going on?” Tony questioned, clearly concerned, thinking that someone, or something, was attacking.

“JARVIS?” Tony called out to get no answer.

“There’s a power outage dumbass,” I say with as much confidence as I can gather to call Tony out on being an idiot but my voice was still shaky.

“I can see that, or rather I can’t,” Tony laughs at his own joke, putting down the piece of metal but he missed the table and it hits the floor with a loud clunk.

I gasp at the sound, knowing what it was but my mind was racing with what it could also be, what noises like that had been in the past and I found myself struggling to breathe.

“Sorry,” Tony apologised and he sounded genuine.

“I-it’s f-fine,” I stumble out, hugging myself to try and stop myself from shaking and to feel a little more protected.

It must have suddenly clicked in Tony’s mind as to why I was so freaked out, and maybe even why the idea of being trapped in that cave caused me to lash out at him because I heard him swear under his breath.

“I’m so sorry, I completely forgot.”

I shake my head, not that I was sure Tony could see, not trusting my voice to tell him that everything was okay without it coming out in a way that showed just how scared I was. He’d only found out about my past a few months ago, and it was rarely brought up so I didn’t mind that he had forgotten. I had been kidnapped by HYDRA, they were planning on putting me through the Winter Soldier program but Bucky escaped and they couldn’t risk making another soldier just for things to go wrong so instead they kept me in complete darkness and tortured me. Ever since then I’d been afraid of the dark.

Tony wasn’t sure what to do. He was muttering under his breath about how all the doors were opened by electricity and were too heavy to lift and his suits were stored in the next room over. How he didn’t have any candles, all the lights he had were electronic, and his phone was in his office. I reached into my pocket for mine but remembered it was in my room charging. The rest of the team were either on different missions or dealing with personal affairs so they couldn’t save us.

“Shit, I… uh, um, okay, is… I’m going to move over to you, if that’s okay?”

“Yeah,” I reply, thinking that I may at least feel safer if Tony was next to me because I knew he wouldn’t hurt me and would protect me the best he could if anything did happen.

“Okay, just concentrate on my voice so I don’t sc-ow, okay guess this tables few centre meters longer than I thought it was.”

“And that’s why I don’t trust your calculations,” I giggle.

“See there’s the girl I know.”

Even I the darkness I can see Tony rolling his eyes, but from his tone I know he’s smiling.

“Anyway, hold your hands out for me,” Tony requests and I do as he asked, gasping again when I feel his hands in mine, not realising that he was so close. Even though I knew Tony did a lot of mechanical work I was still surprised by how callused his hands were, but even more surprised by how they didn’t feel that ruff. I wouldn’t say his hands were soft, it was clear that he had burnt and cut them many times, but they felt nice.

I shook my head. My fears were obviously really getting to me.

Sure Tony was an attractive man, the whole world knew that. There was no point in thinking anything more than that, and there was definitely no point in thinking that there would be any possibility of being romantically involved with Tony. He and Pepper had broken up a while ago, remaining on good terms, so it wasn’t like he wasn’t available, but he could have anyone he wanted.

“You okay?” Tony asked, clearly concerned.

“I-I th-think so,” I answer, just able to make out Tony’s face.

“You’re shaking,” Tony pointed out and I hadn’t realised how bad it was. I tried to calm myself down, focusing on the little bit of light coming from the arc reactor.

Tony often wore thick t-shirts to hide the light. He would never admit it but he was self-conscious about it and blamed the arc reactor for a lot of his problems. It caused him a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally, and hide it thinking he could then hide the pain it caused. Everyone could see how much he was hurting but he wouldn’t let anyone in to talk about it.

“I’m fine,” I say, this time a little more confident now that I had a little bit of light.

Tony cleared his throat and when I looked up I realised that he had caught on to what was helping me and that I was staring at his chest. I felt my whole body grow hot and I apologised, knowing I was being insensitive.

“No, it’s fine. I should have thought about this sooner,” Tony mumbled the last bit under his breath as he let go of my hands.

“Wha…?” I worry that I’ve offended him until I realise that Tony is taking his shirt off.

“Tony, you don’t have to…” I start but he quickly cuts me off.

“It’s the only source of light we have,” Tony shrugs, trying to brush it off like it’s nothing and I let him, knowing he doesn’t like to make a big deal out of things like this, things that show he cares. I’m still grateful.

I follow him as he walks to work on anything he can, which isn’t much due to his reliance on technology, and try my best to help but I think I was really just getting in the way. If I was Tony didn’t say anything.

After what felt like maybe an hour it began to get cold. I tried to hide my shivering but when my teeth chattered Tony looked up from whatever he was writing, which to me was just a bunch of numbers, letters, and symbols, some of which I was pretty sure weren’t real.

“I’m fine,” I tell him again as I hug myself, not wanting to bother him. I’d faced a lot worse anyway.

“Then I guess you don’t want the blankets in that cupboard over there?” Tony asked with a raised eyebrow as he pointed to the cupboard in the corner of the room.

“I mean, I wouldn’t say no,” I retorted, trying to hide my reddening face. Maybe it would be best if I stopped trying to tough this whole situation out. Tony could obviously see through it.

Tony followed me to the cupboard without me asking, not that I would have, but again I appreciated that he did.

I shifted through everything and found a couple of blankets that were relatively oil-free buried under various tools. Grabbing them both I then hand one to Tony who goes to refuse it.

“You don’t have a shirt on, if I’m cold then you must be too,” I state, placing the blanket on Tony’s shoulders myself before wrapping mine around me.

“Thank you,” Tony gives me a small smile, clearly surprised and it occurred to me that it was probably rare for him to have people taking care of him, especially since he and Pepper broke up.

“I should be the one thanking you,” I say with a yawn.

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright, you should probably get some sleep anyway. It’s late and I doubt the powers gonna be back any time soon.”

While I was sceptical, not liking to sleep in places I didn’t know that well, but I knew I needed sleep, especially after the mission today.

“I’ll make sure to stay close,” Tony commented before going to walk away and continue working but I stopped him, grabbing his wrist.

“Tony, you need sleep too,” I state, knowing what Tony was like. He’d work himself to death before any villain had the chance to kill him. His diet consisted of mainly coffee and he was so sleep deprived the bags under his eyes were unlikely to ever disappear.

“I’ll be fine,” Tony sighed, trying to move but I tightened my grip on him.

“Nuh-uh, if that isn’t gonna work for me it sure as hell ain’t gonna work for you.”

"There isn’t enough room on the bench for the both of us,” Tony argued, gesturing towards the bench covered with some cushions that was sometimes used as a bed when Bruce or Tony were working late and decided that they needed sleep but couldn’t be bothered to go back to their own room.

I glare at Tony, not letting him get out of it. Despite our arguing I cared about him, maybe a little too much.

“Hate to break it to ya, but Captain America you are not,” I joke, referencing the fact that Steve was a whole lot of muscle and probably wouldn’t fit comfortably on the bench. Tony, on the other hand, was thin, too thin really, but he’d gotten better at remembering to eat, or at least listening to Bruce when he told him to eat. He wasn’t lacking muscle either, but he wasn’t a super soldier.

“Are you trying to get me to sleep with you? Cuz I gotta say bringing up other guys isn’t a good way of doing so,” Tony smirked. It was likely that he thought a comment like that would get me to back down as if I wasn’t often hanging around with Clint and Natasha. Tony’s words were child’s play compared to some of the things those two said.

“Thought that was more of your thing. Losing it at your old age?” I tease and Tony shoots me a dirty look.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go but don’t blame me when you don’t have a place to sleep.”

With that, Tony went and laid down on the bench, careful to keep light directed at me. He purposely splayed himself out so there wasn’t enough room for me.

“Told you. Want me to get up?”

I shake my head at how childish Tony could be.

Two can play at that game.

“No, I can make this work,” I smile sweetly, walking over and climbing on top of Tony, careful about distributing my weight so I didn’t hurt him. I rest my head on his chest, just about the arc reactor, trying not to look directly at the light. My heart was racing and I could feel Tony tense slightly and his breath grew a little uneven.

“If you wanted to get on top of me all you had to do was ask d-darling,” Tony teased but his breath hitched.

“Wouldn’t have to if you stopped being such a child,” I reply, but there’s no bite to my words and my voice comes out as more of a whisper when I realise just how close we are.

Tony went to say something but the words caught in his throat and instead he wrapped one arm around me. I tried not to get my hopes up, he was just being kind or it was just more comfortable for him. Nevertheless, it felt nice; comforting, and I found myself growing sleepy as I focused on Tony’s breathing.

“Thank you, for all of this,” I whisper, not really thinking about what I was saying in my tired state.

“It’s nothing, I’m just keeping shrapnel from going into my heart,” Tony says dismissively. I frown at that.

“No Tony, you didn’t have to do this. Like, any of this. I could be living in my own apartment freaking out alone but you took me; you took all of us in” I start rambling and before Tony could protest I continued talking.

“You’re amazing, you don’t, you don’t even understand, you don’t-I-I know you don’t think highly of yourself, no matter what you say, but everything you do, how many times you’ve sacrificed yourself and almost died for us, the world, I wish you could see how good you are,” I start mindlessly drawing patterns over Tony’s chest. He’s stunned silent, unsure of what to say or if he wants to say anything. His breath hitches when I get near the arc reactor.

“And this I know you don’t like it, but it shows you’re alive and how-how smart you are, how you’re not willing to give up. It’s beautiful. You’re-you’re beautiful.” I mumble the last part, sleepiness getting t me but before I fell asleep I gently kissed one of the more prominent scars on Tony’s chest. He said something, but I was asleep before I could process it.

When I woke up the lights were on and I felt very disorientated, confused when I didn’t recognise the room I was in and I sat up in a panic.

“Hey, hey sweetie, you’re okay, it’s okay” I heard Tony say and I remembered the power outage, how Tony had taken care of me, and us falling asleep together.

“Oh yeah, sorry,” I wince, partly due to realising that moving so quickly probably hurt Tony, and also due to how bright the lights were. Tony called out the JARVIS, asking for him to dim the lights and for the time.

“It’s about nine in the morning,” a voice that is definitely not JARVIS replies. Tony and I both look up to see Natasha in the doorway smirking at us.

“This isn’t,” Tony began.

“We aren’t,” I say at the same time.

“Hey you don’t have to explain yourselves to me, but thanks for taking care of her Stark,” Natasha smiles at me and gives Tony a nod, showing her appreciation. Natasha was the first one to know about what happened to me and my fear of the dark and was usually the one to make sure I felt safe. Tony nodded back at her, and with that she left, causing an awkward tension to fill the room.

“Uh, I should, I should probably go,” I start to move but Tony’s hands grab my waist gently, telling me to stop, and he’s looking at me, nervous but sure.

“Did you-did you mean what you said last night?”

Last night? What did I say last night? I was so tired. Racking my brain I tried to remember. My gaze dropped down and my eyes were drawn to Tony’s chest, the arc reactor and I remembered, not everything but I knew that I had pretty much let Tony know how I felt about him.

“Yes,” I say, my voice barely coming out, afraid of his reaction but I couldn’t lie to him, especially after last night. There was no point lying anyway.

“It’s… Just forget it,” I continue, going to leave again but Tony just pulls me closer to him so I was laying down again instead of sitting.

“I don’t want to. You said I should stop acting like a child and you’re right. I’ve been acting childish because I was afraid of falling for you, but I need to stop hiding and running from everything,” Tony brushed my hair out of my face, his hand coming down and cupping my face.

“Tony I…” the words get lost.

“I’ve fallen for you, and I can’t, I won’t hide that anymore,” Tony states before leaning in and kissing me. His lips are both soft and rough, like his hands, and just like him in general. I can feel a cut on his bottom lip and make sure to be careful, but Tony isn’t and soon a metallic taste hits my tongue but I don’t mind.

“I love you,” I whisper against Tony’s lips, smiling.

“I kind of got that last night,” Tony smirked, teasing me and I hit him lightly on his right arm, knowing that his left arm was a lot weaker due to getting hit a lot more often.

“I love you too.”

I was surprised to hear that, not expecting to for a while, knowing that Tony found it difficult to show how he felt and how much he feared emotions and getting close to people sometimes.

“You’re amazing, you don’t even understand,” Tony then continued and I put my hand over his mouth pretending to be mad but I couldn’t help but laugh. Yep, I wasn’t going to hear the end of that for a while but I didn’t mind. Maybe if he kept repeating what I said about him he’d start believing it.

Getting comfy again I tell JARVIS to turn the lights back off and inform Tony that we’re having a lazy day unless someone tries to take over the world or whatever. Tony doesn’t even try to protest, wrapping his arms around me and settling down to get some more sleep. It’s a sight that makes me smile and I think back to last night. I still hate blackouts, and the dark in general, but at least now I had some happier memories and a human flashlight for a boyfriend.


End file.
